Authorities Urge New Year Celebrations With Bells, Not Guns

DETROIT (AP) - Community leaders in Detroit are reminding residents about the dangers of firing guns skyward during New Year's celebrations.

Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, the Rev. Nicholas Hood III and others on Monday discussed the "Ring in the New Year with a Bell, Not a Bang" campaign which urges people to bring in the New Year by ringing a bell at midnight, not shooting a gun.

Hood started the effort after Sandra Latham was killed in 1997 by a stray bullet while sitting in her Detroit dining room.

Napoleon said "when you shoot a projectile up into the air, it absolutely comes down" ... "and it comes down with a velocity that can kill."

Firing a gun skyward is a misdemeanor.

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